Date with Disaster
by Lancelotlaureate
Summary: Is it a date? Steven and Sara just don't have a clue.


Looking through the wardrobe room was daunting enough when you were planning to step out onto an unknown terrain and needed suitable attire for any event possible, but when getting ready for a date it was even worse- at least Steven thought it was a date. He'd asked Sara if she'd like to have dinner with him and she'd accepted. Of course as he stood looking at the rows of shirts and jumpers, he wondered whether Sara actually realised he'd meant it as a date and not just two friends meeting for a bite to eat.

Picking up several shirts, and then discarding them moments later, Steven finally settled on a dark green and brown striped jumper and grey trousers. He considered it was too casual a look, but he wasn't sure if a suit or tie might make her feel it was too formal and too date-like, that is, if she even knew it was a date- he still wasn't sure. Why couldn't he just be like a normal person and ask someone out without fretting about it afterwards?

He wandered out of the TARDIS swiftly and made his way to find Sara who was meeting him on the street outside the restaurant they'd picked earlier that day when they'd arrived on 21st century Earth. He was unsure as to why they weren't walking to their destination together but he didn't really want to ask that either, completely unsure of whether walking together had different connotations than walking alone. When he reached the restaurant, she was standing outside waiting rigid and upright and seemed a little bored as though she'd been waiting a while. She was checking her watch as he approached her.

"We did say seven?" Steven said as he approached her with a warm smile.

"Yes seven, not five past."

Steven could already tell he was in her bad books. He apologised and opened the door for her and then they made their way to the table, following the waiter as he showed them their seats. Sara took off her coat and folded it almost regimentally and placed it on the back of the chair. Steven noticed she was wearing a smart lilac blouse and a pair of finely pressed black trousers. Her hair was tied up which was a rare but welcome sight and he smiled to himself- clearly it was a date. Why else would she be wearing nice clothes and her hair tied up? And was that a hint of make-up? She never wore make-up, not enough that was noticeable to him at least.

Sara looked across at Steven and smiled casually. She was starting to worry now that it was indeed a date. She'd accepted his request of dinner on the spur of the moment, and assumed it was two friends filling their empty stomachs after a long adventure. It wasn't necessarily that she didn't want it to be a date, more that she wasn't sure what it meant, and in any case what was the protocol for such things? She supposed it couldn't have been a date, after all Steven was barely dressed differently than he usually was in one of his unflattering jumpers and regular trousers. She looked down under the table to his shoes. She sighed. He was still wearing the ugly things he always wore. Surely he wouldn't try to impress her in those?

"Is everything alright?" Steven asked, noticing Sara was rather unfocused and appeared to be looking under the table. "Did you drop something?"

She laughed nervously. "No, no." She quickly turned away and signalled for the waiter. "I don't like to be kept waiting for a drink."

Steven grabbed the menu and glanced over it but didn't really take in any of the words as his eyes scanned over Sara's body, just a quick glance, not to be obvious but enough to get a good idea of how she looked in something other than her space security outfit.

She noticed the glance he gave her and she shivered. She couldn't read his body language at all and wondered why he was looking at her. She was also unsure of how to respond when she noticed he was holding his menu upside down. "You won't have much luck ordering that way round."

Steven looked down at the menu and laughed nervously, feeling his cheeks flush with embarrassment. He quickly turned the menu up the right way and tried to ignore the smirk he could see from the waiter who had appeared at the table. "Wondered why it was all foreign," he said quietly.

He ordered his meal as quickly as possible so that the waiter could go away and leave them to it. It was hard enough trying to work out whether it was a date without a spying waiter in their midst. Sara ordered her meal too and then finally they were alone again. Steven leaned forward across the table and was just about to tell her how nice she looked when the waiter returned with their drinks, interrupting his further attempts at talking.

"Thank you." Sara watched the waiter leave and then played with the glass of wine awkwardly, running her finger around the rim coyly. It had to be a date she thought, why else were they so uncomfortable with each other? If she played with the glass and caressed it softly, would it prompt a reaction? Would it ease any awkwardness?

Steven looked at Sara once again and sighed. It couldn't have been a date. She was far more interested in her glass than she was with him. He hadn't heard her say two words to him upon entering the restaurant and she seemed more interested in the food they'd ordered than his feeble attempts at conversation.

"It's a nice place isn't it?" Steven said, finally. "Makes a change doesn't it? It's not the same when you eat from packages out of a machine."

"You're quite right, Steven, it's so nice to eat a proper meal."

It wasn't a date. That confirmed it. She wanted the food and not him.

"Of course it's nice to spend some time together without the Doctor," she added.

Steven mentally berated himself for thinking she cared more about her stomach than his personality. She wanted to spend time with him alone! Surely, this was a date after all?

He looked at her and decided to be brave, leaning forward again and complimenting her. "You look lovely this evening."

He waited for her response but he couldn't read her expression. Would she be offended? Flattered? Taken aback? Was it too soon or not soon enough?

Sara smiled shyly and looked down at the tablecloth, removing her hands from her glass and putting them onto her lap. So it was a date? She'd been anxious that it was, and the compliment surely confirmed her fears or her desires, she wasn't even sure by this point. Should she say thank you to his comment or should she respond with a compliment in kind? "You look nice as well." She decided upon option two even though she was sure he could have put a bit more effort into his appearance.

Steven looked down at himself proudly. She had noticed he'd made an effort so that had to mean something.

For the next few moments as they waited for their dinner to arrive, they exhausted just about every bit of small talk they could muster- the weather, the TARDIS, anything that would make it appear as though they really didn't want to get to know each other as much as they very truly did.

As their meals arrived and they started to tuck in, Steven said the first thing that came into his head, so irritated with awkward silences and sounds of noisy chewing from the both of them. "So Mavic Chen huh, he's something?"

Sara's face was sterner than he was expecting it to be. He berated himself again. Why on earth would she want to talk about Mavic Chen whilst eating pasta?

"I'd rather not talk about him, Steven."

"Yes, of course. I'm sorry- we're supposed to be forgetting about all that stuff."

Sara felt herself sighing, or was it simply relief? If he had wanted to discuss Mavic Chen then maybe it wasn't a date after all and maybe he really did just want to have dinner with a friend. She still wasn't certain of his intent. "How's your meal?"

"Nice, could do with some onions though."

"Oh why didn't you have any?"

Steven frowned. She obviously couldn't think it was a date if she wondered why he wasn't eating onions. As the meal progressed it was getting increasingly difficult to confirm whether they were eating together as friends or as something more. Why couldn't there be a big red sign telling him?

Now, back to the onion dilemma, if he answered that he chose not to have onions then she might assume he was angling for a kiss, but if he replied that he simply forgot to order onions, then she would think he didn't want a kiss. Was that better? "Well onions are known to repeat on me." He settled for the middle option of 'embarrass yourself' by talking about how food gives you digestive distress.

She didn't know why he was telling her randomly about onions. If he wanted onions he should have had them and if they repeated on him he could have kept that information to himself. She wasn't familiar with dating but she was sure Steven couldn't have come on a date to talk about his digestion. It couldn't be a date.

She watched him intently as he ran his hands through his hair. She liked that. He looked handsome when he did it and she wondered whether it was an attempt at seduction. But she wasn't good at reading signals so it was really no help to her. She hadn't wanted it to be a date initially, but really, had she been kidding herself and wanted it to be a date all along? After all, Steven was an intriguing man and at that moment she was very attracted to him. But was he attracted to her or was he simply trying to be friendly?

Steven could see she was looking at him again. She probably wasn't sure what his intentions were. He had never been so attracted to her as he was at that moment as he could see that her tied-up hair had begun to fall loosely onto her shoulders and there was a playful glint in her eyes. He'd never seen that side of her before. There was vulnerability in her that she often hid behind a shield of bravado.

Sensing he was staring at her again, Sara moved forward in her chair slightly and carefully placed her hand onto the table inches from his fingers. She hoped this would confirm whether or not romance was what he had in mind. When his fingers brushed hers lightly, she felt a tingle run over her body. It was a date! It had to be!

Steven smiled. She'd made the first move, however slight it was- it was the signal he had been waiting for. When their hands made contact he felt a rush of joy pass through him. It was a date! It was their first date!

The two friends stared into one another's eyes as their hands intertwined across the table and they sat in silence, both smiling giddily as they dared not look away to where the world around them was soldiering on, to where death and destruction and war raged on across the stars- where Daleks were still plotting to wipe everyone out of existence. Looking at each other, there was none of that. There were only their own faces, their own eyes, lips, soft hands and the beautiful feeling of being in the company of someone quite special, just the two of them, Steven and Sara- a date, a real date.

There was a sudden noise and the sound of a screech of wood against the floor, and before they had time to think, they could see the Doctor moving his chair slowly to their table and making sure he was comfortable in between where they sat across from one another.

"Doctor!" they said in annoyed unison.

"Sorry to turn up unannounced but you never made it clear what restaurant you were meeting at."

Steven was flabbergasted. Sara must have invited him but if she did then why did she say she wanted to be alone with him?

Sara was stunned. Surely Steven hadn't invited the Doctor along on a date with them?

"Oh I know you never officially invited me," the Doctor said, glancing over the menu. "But I became quite hungry whilst carrying out repairs so I thought I'd join you."

Steven and Sara both averted one another's gaze and each looked down at their own laps. Steven resisted the urge to forcibly remove the Doctor from his chair, that or kick him swiftly under the table. Of course neither option was likely to impress Sara.

"I might have the ribs," the Doctor said, licking his lips in anticipation. "Those repairs were a lot of work, there was even a small explosion." The Doctor mimed the size of the explosion and as his hand flew outwards, the glass of wine landed all over Steven.

Steven jumped up from his seat and scowled at the puddle of liquid all over the front of his trousers. "Doctor!" he said through gritted teeth.

He noticed that Sara was trying not to laugh behind her breadstick. The Doctor chuckled. "I am sorry, my boy. It is most unfortunate."

"And how am I supposed to walk out of here like this?" he said as he sat down and began desperately mopping his trousers with a serviette.

"Sara can walk close in front of you, I suppose."

"I look as though I've had an accident," he said.

Sara laughed, seizing her opportunity to join in on the teasing. "I did tell you not to drink too much, Steven."

She looked at the Doctor and they joked together, laughing even harder when Steven's face turned a shade of purple.

"I'm glad you find this so amusing. Oh what's the use, I'm going back to the TARDIS."

He got up from his seat and hurried toward the door at great speed. The Doctor looked sheepishly at Sara. "I never intended to upset the man. I think I'll let him cool off and stay for my supper."

"I think I'll go after him," Sara said as she excused herself from his company. "I'm full up from the dinner anyway."

…

Sara ran and caught up with Steven by the doors of the TARDIS. "You're not angry are you?"

Steven admitted defeat and turned to face her. "Not with you or the silly wine accident, just with the Doctor."

"I don't think he means it."

Steven laughed. "No."

She looked down at his trousers. "It's drying off."

He looked down at himself and smiled awkwardly. He was quite amused by the sight of Sara looking at that certain portion of his anatomy quite intensely. The date had not gone the way he had planned, that was for certain, but there was a certain thrill he had not anticipated.

"So, what now?" she said, peering at him with a teasing grin, finally looking away from his trousers. "Scrabble?"

"You wouldn't want to try me."

There was a moment of silence as they both clumsily attempted to get closer to one another without the other noticing. Finally, as they reached each other and their bodies were leaning against the TARDIS and nearly each other, Steven moved his face closer to hers. Was it the right thing to do? He had no idea, but he'd got it wrong all evening and for the first time that night he just didn't care what he was supposed to do- he was going to do what he wanted to do. He leaned in and kissed her softly on the lips, holding her cheeks gently in his hands. Sara closed her eyes and could hardly believe what was happening but she was glad he'd finally made the decision she was too afraid to make.

As they broke apart, Sara smiled shyly. "So it was a date then?"

Steven clutched his stomach and laughed. "You know what? I don't really know and in the grand scheme of things I'm not sure it really matters."


End file.
